


Sleepwalking

by she_who_the_river_could_not_hold



Series: Spooky Things (And Other Stranger Stories from Hawkins) [3]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, it's kinda tense, mild swearing, nothing specific, that's it really, with some spooky thrown in
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-07-14 04:55:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16033412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/she_who_the_river_could_not_hold/pseuds/she_who_the_river_could_not_hold
Summary: One summer night, Hopper wakes up to El sleepwalking. Though only a brief moment, it brings with it a series of questions and nerves. And the idea that maybe all of the danger that they left behind that last fall, isn’t out of the picture quite yet.





	Sleepwalking

The cabin creaked and groaned, the wind outside pressing up against it as it forced its way around it. It protested loudly in response, the squeaks of old wood mixing into the howl of the wind.

 

Jim Hopper groaned.

 

He’d been tossing and turning for the better part of the last thirty minutes, having been woken up by a loose shutter clapping against the wall outside, contributing to the cacophony of noises happening right now. All together way too much noise if he had anything to say about it. _It was the middle of the night for Christ’s sake._

 

But his frustrations with the weather and the old cabin (he should really start looking into a real house), were then interrupted by a new noise.

 

The slow, drawn out screech of El’s door opening up. 

 

Hopper hoisted himself to his elbows. 

 

“El?”

 

He could barely make out her silhouette in the door frame, lit only by the soft glow of the night light that she kept in her room. Her curls, having grown out nearly to her shoulders, floated around her head with static. She didn’t respond though. It was as if he hadn’t said anything. Instead, El began to walk across the cabin — nearly drifting, her movement was so fluid.

 

Rubbing at his eyes frantically, Hopper tried to get them to adjust to the darkness faster. She passed by him without a glance. He hadn’t ever known her to sleepwalk, not once since they moved into the cabin. Sometimes he’d hear her cry out, a strangled sob that would wake her up from whatever nightmare she had been in the throes of. Early on, most mornings found her blankets in a tangled mess (or sometimes on the floor), evidence of a long night spent thrashing in her sleep. 

 

But never sleepwalking.

 

He was trying to convince himself she’d stop soon, or that maybe she’d turn and walk towards the kitchen. It didn’t appear to work though.

 

El kept moving slowly forward until she opened the front door.

 

That made Hopper jerk out of the bed in an ungraceful move, the blankets tangling unceremoniously with his legs. Luckily once he was up, his strides were able to quickly make up ground compared to the dainty teenager just ahead of him. She was now just barely in front of him, though certainly moving at a faster pace than expected.

 

And straight for the stairs leading down off into the night.

 

It didn’t take long for her to cross the shallow porch. But as she stepped to walk off it, the fabric of her shirt just slipping from his grasp, Hopper had to blink a couple times to make sure he was seeing this correctly. But the rapid flutter of his eyelids didn’t dispute the scene in front of him — El was slowly rising into the air. Instead of stepping down and off of the steps, she hovered just above the ground, her limbs going limp as her powers seemingly took control of her movements. 

 

Hopper took that moment to lunge forward onto the porch. The air was sticky with the late summer humidity, the storm hovering around them. No doubt in a day or two, the extreme heat and moisture in the air would break with the arrival of the inclement weather, but for now it remained hanging over Hawkins. 

 

Her nightshirt, a long t-shirt he strongly suspected had once belonged to a certain Mike Wheeler, was the perfect length for him to now reach out and grab. 

 

As soon as he made contact, it was like nature around them erupted. Trees shook anxiously and the clouds seem to roll in, the stars being quickly blacked out. He yanked El in just enough for him to wrap his arms around her, her feet still floating above the ground.

 

The wind began to howl in agony around them and Hopper fought to control his grasp around El’s torso. She struggled against him, her eyes still rolled back into her head. Her body still seemed to be trying to float. He thanked whatever what was out there though that her powers didn’t seem to be able to overthrow him while she slept, so he was able to keep her from going off. But she was just strong enough that he couldn’t pull her back in yet.

 

There was a second where he contemplated the possibility of a tornado ripping through Hawkins. He couldn’t remember the last time he had heard of it happening, but damn this weather was making him think twice.

 

Splinters of wood flew off from the trees around them. 

 

Hopper instinctively flinched, doing his best to protect El from the flying debris. But when nothing happened, he stole a glance up and realized that the cabin was surrounded by a swirl of dust, wind, and pieces of trees and shrubs. Circling them in a frenzied path.

 

He was pretty sure he heard a growl in the air and he whipped his head around desperately, searching for the source. He didn’t see one. 

 

None of this was natural and it was only then that he attempted to make some sort of connection to the unusual weather and the telekinetic girl in his arms. He doubted she was doing this, weather didn’t seem to a be thing she had much effect on. But things did react strangely around her, or at least she seems to get strange things to gravitate towards her.

 

“El, I’m going to need you to wake up now,” he yelled against the wind, trying his best to gently shake her awake and not have the panic of the moment take over.

 

She remained unseeing and he shook her body a little harder.

 

“EL WAKE UP.”

 

He then nearly dropped her at the next thing that happened. 

 

She arched forward out of his grasp, a scream ripping from her throat and into the night. Rather than fearful though, it seemed to be enraged and her entire body shuddered from the strength of it.

 

Then everything stopped.

 

Complete silence.

 

El’s body slumped back into Hopper’s arms, her eyes blinking open blearily. The trees around them stopped shaking their limbs, and even the house stood still. It took a moment for him to realize that the loudest thing was his labored breathing, coming out in heavy puffs as his heart rate struggled to return to normal. 

 

“What’s going on?” El mumbled, sluggishly straightening herself up. Her eyes grew wide as she realized that they were standing on the porch and a sudden fear flared up in them.

 

“Hey hey, it’s okay. You were just sleepwalking kid,” Hopper said quickly. 

 

The last thing he wanted was for her confused, tired state to send her into a panic attack. She nodded numbly at that, allowing him to guide her back into the cabin.

 

He got her situated back in bed, her blankets tucked high under her chin and her teddy bear tightly in her hands. He sat on the edge of the bed as she falls back asleep, keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn’t slip into a nightmare. But thankfully after that whole ordeal, her body seemed to be ready to embrace a normal night of sleep and she appeared to be truly relaxed. Once her breathing became the steady, soft exhales of someone deep in slumber, Hopper gently pushed himself off and made his way back outside.

 

It only took a small swipe from the kitchen counter to grab the small, blue and white packet, which he took onto he porch with him.

 

The glow of the cigarette lit up brightly for a moment, before dimming back down as he shoved the light back into the pockets of his sweats. 

 

He stood there, smoking it uneasily as he watched clouds creep over the moon. The air around him was unsettling to say the least. There was something unnatural about it; he could feel it in his bones. He could only remember a couple other vague times when it had felt like the world around him hung in anticipation. For something, anything. He couldn’t shake the feeling in his stomach no matter how long of a drag he took. A sensation just like when you’re on a rollercoaster and it’s tipping over the edge, about to plunge down to the ground.

 

Except he was stationary, slouched against the front of his cabin, looking out onto the land in front of him.

 

It was the calm before the storm, and eventually when Hopper rubbed out the butt of the cigarette on the porch, he’d reached only one conclusion.

 

_Something was coming to Hawkins._

**Author's Note:**

> Yay I hope you enjoyed it! Sleepwalking scares me so much so I actually got a bit uneasy even writing this while trying to visualize it all, but I’m super happy with how it turned out in the end. Kind of toyed with the idea as if it was to lead up to anything in Season Three, but I don’t think I’d consider this any of my predictions for what’s to come. To those that don't follow me on Tumblr, I'm currently in a semi-hiatus while I figure out a better balance of my offline work, and my online fandom experience. Which sadly means longer in between fics and graphics, but hopefully means better quality. 
> 
> Thanks for checking the fic out, it's almost October friends so here's to more spookiness to come!


End file.
